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For the 28th year, the Fort Bliss NCO Wives Club has been busy planning, organizing and even baking to get ready for its annual holiday shopping event.

The Fort Bliss Holiday Bazaar will be held Nov. 14-15 at the Trading Post, on Marshall Road in the former Commissary building.

This is the second largest holiday bazaar in West Texas behind the one put on by the Junior League of El Paso, organizers said. The Junior League bazaar is happening Friday through Sunday at the convention center in Downtown.

The Fort Bliss Holiday Bazaar will feature more than 100 vendors from throughout the Southwest, said Sue Gonzales, bazaar chairwoman. About 90 percent of the items are handmade crafts that can make excellent Christmas gifts, Gonzales said.

The bazaar also showcases some “marvelous food,” Gonzales added.

The NCO Wives Club runs the Yum-Yum Shoppe which features cakes, pies, cookies and brownies made by the club members. This is one of the most popular attractions at the bazaar each year and baked goods usually sell out by the end of each day, said Mary Jo Holifield, who is the Yum-Yum Shoppe co-chairwoman.

Club members will also sell their signature grilled bratwurst along with homemade German potato salad and sauerkraut.

Another half dozen food vendors, affiliated with military units at Fort Bliss, will also sell their wares. These other groups will sell items like hamburgers, hot dogs, taco salad and mini-doughnuts and will raise money for their units’ holiday events.

Admission and vendor fees and food sold by the NCO Wives Club will benefit the club’s scholarship fund and its charitable giving grants which help charities both at Fort Bliss and in El Paso, Gonzales said. Last year, the club raised $14,000 during its holiday event.

Holifield said it is a great way to get into the holiday spirit, get some holiday shopping done early and help the local community.